


Those Who Need Hurting

by JayceCarter



Series: Nora, John, and Emma [1]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Bullying, F/M, Fights, Gen, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 04:55:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12183288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayceCarter/pseuds/JayceCarter
Summary: When someone has been bullying John's daughter, Emma, he decides to deal with the problem himself. Of course, he forgot that Emma has the same temper he does, and they both get themselves in over their heads. Like father, like daughter.





	Those Who Need Hurting

**Author's Note:**

> This story is another part of "I Don't Run" which is in the collection (thought I'm thinking about removing those two chapters and putting them in their own story since I've written more and have some stories about Emma I'd like to do). For those who haven't read it, Emma is Nora and Arthur's daughter, but Arthur forced Nora to have her and Nora killed him. John and Nora raised Emma as their daughter. This story is also part of the story "Change." 
> 
> Lastly, this is totally self-indulgent because a kid has been picking on my son and I'm not allowed to go mama bear on him, thus, I wrote this instead. lol.

 

Some things guaranteed violence from John. Innocents being murdered, people stealing his chems, and the tears in Emma’s eyes.

 

Nothing worked him up faster than his little spitfire in tears, the way she refused to even admit to ‘em. She didn’t sniffle and whine and complain. She didn’t beg John to go kill whoever fucked with her. Nope, she just ran in and started looking for a knife.

 

At six, she was a tough kid already, but small for her age. She might still get Arthur’s height, but right then? Right then she was a hell of a target for kids bigger and stronger than her, for asshole kids whose asshole parents didn’t think a ghoul belonged in Diamond City.

 

Well, fuck ‘em.

 

“What’s up, sunshine?”

 

Emma hid the knife behind her back, meeting his gaze. “Nothing, Dad.”

 

“Nothing? That why you got my blade behind you?”

 

Her lips pressed together, but she handed it over. “I wasn’t gonna kill him.”

 

“Kill who? And for what?”

 

“Jacob. He pushed me down and kicked me. And he said we needed to leave.”

 

John crouched down so he could tilt Emma’s head, taking in the scrapes and cuts along her cheek and jaw. Yeah, she’d been shoved into the dirt. “Why does he say we gotta leave?”

 

“He says ghouls aren’t welcome here. That you shouldn’t be here.”

 

John kept a tight hold of his temper, something he’d learned only after having Emma. Couldn’t fly off and stab people for being pricks. Not anymore, at least.

 

Thankfully, Nora walked down the stairs. She was the level headed one. “Do I need to talk to the teacher?”

 

Emma shook her head, her dark hair falling into her eyes, unruly as it always was. “Nope. I’m just gonna stab him.”

 

“You can’t stab him, Emma. That isn’t how you resolve fights.”

 

“That’s how Dad met you, wasn’t it? He told me he stabbed a man who was rude to you.”

 

Nora threw John a glare, and he only grinned in return. Yeah, he’d told Emma about that. Best fucking choice he’d ever made. He wasn’t proud of a lot of shit in his life, but he was proud of that.

 

When she couldn’t get an ounce of regret from him, Nora turned back to Emma. “That was different. The man was threatening me. And we’re adults. And you should do better than us, Emma. I’ll talk to the teacher, and you just make sure you don’t go around him anymore, okay?”

 

Emma pressed her lips together, a tight, angry face that was so much like her mama’s. “Sure.”

 

John chuckled as she went up the stairs to her room, because that sure was the clearest fucking lie he’d heard in days.

 

#

 

Nora rubbed her eyes as she crawled into the bed beside John. She really hated Diamond City. It was the best place to be for Emma, and they weren’t staying long, and not all the time, but for her schooling?

 

No better place.

 

Plus, with Nick and Ellie close by, they always had someone to watch her when work called either of them away.

 

But the people were assholes, and this wasn’t the first time Emma had taken the brunt of annoyance.

 

“You’re frowning, sister.” John pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

 

“I wonder if we’re making the right choice, having Emma here.”

 

“Well, we both decided she needed schooling, and fuck knows Goodneighbor ain’t got any. Besides, Emma could use some work on her people skills.”

 

“Yeah, she has your charm.”

 

John pressed a hand against his chest. “You cut me, sunshine. I’m the most charismatic ghoul this side of Covenant.”

 

“Yeah, and so is she when she smiles, just before she starts to fight dirty. I blame you, you know that? I never fought in school.”

 

John threw an arm around Nora and pulled her against his side. “Hey, I’ll take the blame for that. Surprised you kept your head about you, though. Seeing her all scraped up? I was ready to take the knife myself and deal with the little fucker.”

 

“That little fucker is eight, John. You can’t carve up kids.”

 

“You can when they fuck with your kid. Pretty sure that shit was in the old constitution.”

 

Nora chuckled, curling against John’s warmth. Leave it to him to require her to say things she’d never thought she’d need to, like why you couldn’t gut an eight year old.

 

But if John was one thing, it was protective. He’d been protective of Nora, and he was worse with Emma. She couldn’t say she’d ever thought of him as a fatherly type, not when he was wielding that shotgun or shooting up, but he’d shown her. He’d settled into the role with such ease after the first few weeks, and no one could love a kid more than he loved Emma.

 

Nora would walk in on occasion, both of them plastering on identical ‘we ain’t up to shit’ faces while hiding whatever snack or weapon they’d been messing with, and she couldn’t even find it in herself to be angry. John and Emma were two of a kind, both trouble, and it always gave her a little piece of home to see them raising hell together.

 

“She needs to learn to deal with people like a regular person. Not like. . .well, like us.”

 

“We ain’t so bad.”

 

She cocked up an eyebrow.

 

“Well, fine. We might be a little more bloody than some others, but no one fucks with us. Nothing would make me happier than having Emma able to say the same.”

 

“Just try, John. I don’t want her getting kicked out of school because she tried to stab some kid, huh? I mean, what’ll we do if she does that?”

 

John huffed out a soft laugh before offering her a kiss. “I think I’ll buy her a fucking pony.”

 

#

 

So this was the little asshole, huh? Freckles on his cheeks, short, shaggy ginger hair, standing a good six inches taller than Emma and a lot more bulk.

 

Nora had told John not to go pick Emma up himself, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted a look at the kid, wanted to size him up.

 

And he sure found the little asshole lacking.

 

But when he caught sight of the kid’s dad? Yeah, that fucker was upper stands trash.

 

Asshole Sr. threw an arm around his miniature. “How was your day at school, Jacob?”

 

“Okay. The teacher made me sit in the front.”

 

“What? Why?”

 

“Emma’s mom complained to her, said I was being mean.”

 

“And she moved you instead of that little brat?”

 

Well fuck. John flicked his cigarette, ash falling to the ground as he crossed the distance. “Hey, brother.”

 

Asshole Sr.’s lip curled, a look of disgust that John had seen too many times. “Jacob, go on and play while I speak with this. . . well, this.” He turned his gaze back to John. “So you’re the ghoul they let in.”

 

“Sure am. Not sure if you knew it, but your kid-“ John said kid the way he said asshole “-shoved my Emma down in the dirt and then kicked her.”

 

“Well, kids will be kids.”

 

“And assholes will be assholes. Doesn’t mean we oughta just tolerate that shit.”

 

The man snorted, like this entire conversation was absurd. “And some people don’t know their place. See, I’ve lived in Diamond City for a very long time.”

 

“Not as long as me, princess.”

 

“Well, real Diamond City people know we have to keep the undesirables out. Sometimes that’s criminals, or junkies, or ghouls, or the offspring of all of those.”

 

So he knew exactly who John was, meaing the fucker should have known better than push him. If John wasn’t known for something, it was patience.

 

John wanted to reach for his blade, to let it dance along his fingers, but Nora would be pissed. If he could behave for anyone, it would be Nora. Instead, he flashed his teeth in an unfriendly smile. “You’re walking a real narrow line, brother. See, I ain’t what’s known as a real level-headed man. So, maybe you want to rethink your stupid fucking words when it comes to my offspring, because I’d fucking love to shove you off that line.”

 

“Yeah, see, I didn’t like Nora when she got here either. She walked in, thinking she was better than she was. Then she gets you in here, which is worse. Lastly? My son is forced to sit beside your worthless, criminal offspring-“

 

Fuck patience.

 

#

 

Emma struck the wall, her lip splitting.

 

“Well if it isn’t the little abomination. You rotting inside like your Dad?”

 

Emma turned around, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. “Don’t talk about my Dad.”

 

“Why not? He’s over there, bothering my father, a real person.”

 

“You better hope your asshole father plays nice or mine will gut him.”

 

Jacob laughed, spit flying from his stupid lips. He’d been picking on Emma for months, ever since they’d moved there. Every day he threw things at her in class, calling her names, but it was only the last few days he’d gotten worse.

 

Yesterday, he’d come up behind her, shoving her down then kicking her in the ribs. He’d called her ghoul-scum, needle whore, a few others. Course, Emma had spent enough time in Goodneighbor that she knew far better insults.

 

“He’s gonna get kicked out, just like you and that whore mom of yours.”

 

“Don’t talk about my Mom, either.”

 

“Why not? I heard my father talk about your dad. He’s a junkie who thinks he’s tough. Nothing more than trash and we should string him up like we used to do in Diamond City.”

 

Well fuck this.

 

#

 

Nora shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. She couldn’t even say she was surprised, could she? “Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”

 

John laughed, legs up, bruises showing even on his scarred skin. “Don’t be pissed that you missed out on all the fun, sunshine. There’s always next time. No one talks shit about my little girl.”

 

Emma curled in closer to John’s side, bruises on her cheeks, knuckles scraped up, blood smeared over her teeth she grinned. The kid had taken a hell of a beating, but Nora had already been told that the other two took it far worse. “And no one says shit about my Dad. Totally worth it, Mom.”

 

“Worth it? You’re both in jail!”

 

“Yep. Worth it.” John’s smile made it impossible to stay mad. He was reckless and wild and immature and he loved her and Emma endlessly. “We help those who need helping and hurt those who need hurting.”

 

Emma nodded, giving Nora a thumbs up. “Trust me, Mom, those assholes needed a lot of hurting.”

 

Nora shook her head, unable to hide her grin anymore. These two troublemaker’s were all hers, and she couldn’t be prouder.

 

 


End file.
